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EMANCIPATION ORATION, 



By Dr. EZRA R. JOHNSON 



POEM, 



By JAMES M. WHITFIELD 



nELITERED AT 



PLAITS HALL, JAA^UARY 1, 1867 



IX HONOR OK THE 



l^OUETH ANNIYERSAEY 



PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S 



PROCLAMATION OF EMANCIPATION. 



1864 



SAN FRANCISCO : 

PUBLISHED AT THE ELEVATOR OFFICE. 

1867. 



^4^ 



IK 



Opinions of tUo Press. 

The Bulletin says: — The Oration oi 
Dr. E. R. Johnson, owing to its length, and 
tlie pressure upon our columns of other 
matter, we are unal)le to give even a synop- 
sis of its points. Eloquent eulogies were 
pronounced on Wm. Lloyd Garrison, "Our 
Wilberforee of America." Wendell Phil- 
lips, Charles Sumner, and Gen. Butler, and 
to the memories of Lincoln and John Brown. 
The orator closed by advising the colored 
people to dedicate their lives to the well- 
begun work, until their full rights were 
granted to them. The Poem of J. M. 
Whitfield was well delivered, and a worthy 
production. The orator and poet were 
frequently interrupted with applause. 

The Alta says :— The oration was a well 
written and well delivered production, and 
roHects great credit upon its author. The 
Poem, too, was good, and received marked 
applause from the audience during the de- 
livery. 

The Times says :— The Doctor possesses 
awell cultivated mind, and considerable 
aliility as an orator. They express their 
regret that the demands on their columns 
prevent them from giving the eloquent 
composition in full. The orator was fre- 
quently interrupted by the applause of the 



audience. A largo number of white people 
were present. The poem was a really able 
composition. It deserves to be read en- 
tire. 

The MoRNiNrx Call says :— The delivery 
of the oration was marked by considerable 
force of expression, and a tendency to eu- 
logize certain of the great Abolition lead- 
ers. The poem was a meritorious produc- 
tion. 

The Pacific Appeal says :— The oration 
was a success. The hall was densely crowd- 
ed with two thousand wliite and colored 
persons indiscriminately. The oration was 
the theme of admiration and praise by all 
who were present during the exercises. Dr. 
Johnson was interrupted ' nearly one hun- 
dred times during the delivery' of his ora- 
tion by outbursts of applause, and at its 
close the audience rose en masse and gave 
him three rousing cheers, the ladies waving 
their handkerchiefs, and the colored brass 
band joining in sweet strains of music by 
playing the " Star Spangled Banner." The 
scene was thrilling in the extreme ; but the 
Dr. bore the honors like a self-jjoised vete- 
ran with perfect composure. Of the Poem 
we will say : 

Whitfield couiiaauds ; your aid, O Muses, bring ! 
Wliat Muse for Whitfield can refuse to sing. 



EMANCIPATION ORATION, 

By Dr. EZRA R. JOHNSON, 

AND 

POEM, 

By JAMES M. WHITFIELD, 

DELIVERED AT 

PLAITS HALL, JAJfUARY 1, 1867, 

IN HONOR OF THE 

POUTITH ANNIYERSAEY 

OP 

PRESIDENT LINCOLN'S 

PROCLAMATION OF EMANCIPATION. 

1864- 



SAN FRANCISCO : 
PUBLISHED AT THE ELEVATOR OFFICE. 

1867. 






THE BRAN NAN GUARDS; 

The first SrCCESSFrLLY OROAiaZED MILITARY COSIPAjrr OF COLORED MEN Vf 
CALIFORSIA, 

THIS ORATION IS MOST RESPECTFULLY DEDICATED. 



E A T 1 X 



DELIVEBZD BY 



Dli. EZRA R. JOHXSOX 



Mr. Pkesidext. Friexds axd Fellow-Citizexs : — Time's 
measured tread, with all its blessincrs, has brought us to be- 
hold aaother happy Xe^v Year. We joyfully greet you ; mil- 
lions of our race join in the chorus, and sound the loud tim- 
brel, for our people are free. Assembled in this spacious 
and popular edifice, within whose walls the deep, mellow 
voice of our peerless advocate, the lamented Rev. T. Starr 
King was wont to be heard captivating his hearers by his 
matchless eloquence, and others of equal note, who from this 
forum have, with trumpet tones, denounced slavery and op- 
pression. It is fitting, then, that we should once more con- 
secrate this house to the service of a cause so sacred. These 
stars and stripes are emblems of freedom. We behold a 
beautifol spectacle — this immense gathering of the people, 
composed of the respectable and intelligent members of so- 
ciety, Avithout regard to cast or color. 

Many long and weary years have we labored to disabuse a 
corrupt and iniquitous pubUc sentiment, that raised its impe- 
rious head to the clouds, vainly hoping to thwart the design 
of " Him who is thundering in the Heavens for the oppres- 
sion of the poor : for the sighing of the needy I will arise ; 
I will set him in safety from him that puffeth at him."' 

We love the earth on which we first drew the vital air, 
and beheld the light of Heaven : and the same soil is sacred 
when we know it embraces the dearest relatives of life, and 
contains in its bosom the ashes of our ancestors, and on it« 
surface the Temple of our God. The misfortunes that have 
been accumulating upon our heads, and threatened to over- 



whelm us, are fast disappearing. Time, hallowed and gra- 
cious, now lifts the clouds which oppress us, and we will rise 
above our calamities. 

We were delighted with the scene on the line of march of 
the long and imposing procession. The gorgeous display 
received encomiums that filled the heart with gladness. It 
was truly an ovation of which an)'- people might be proud. 
All have done well. There was a marked feature in the pro- 
cession that deserves a passing notice. The appearance of a 
well-drilled military company was a novelty that took the 
people by surprise. Their soldierly bearing attracted special 
attention, and received well-deserved praise. Their bronzed 
faces exhibited unmistakable resemblance of those brave boys 
in blue who went to the war, and during a long, well-fought 
battle, never took a prisoner. We give them a hearty wel- 
come, and we hope that they may be overshadowed with the 
olive branch during life ; but if our country is imperiled, 
may they, at the first tap of the drum, be willing and ready 
to obey the orders of their superior officers. 

We are happy to. meet you on this joyous occasion. Let 
us all join to make this Festival of Freedom worthy of the 
day and hour. The fires of liberty are burning on the altar 
of every heart. The fiat from the throne of eternal justice 
has gone forth, and our race, despite the machinations of our 
enemies, will soon enjoy all the heaven-born rights that a bar- 
barous and inhuman perversion of justice has so long withheld 
from us. This is our natal day. We offer our congratula- 
tions on the great blessings which we derive from the act of 
which this day is the anniversary, and the blessings which 
Heaven has bestowed upon our country and people. Espec- 
ially have we, the proscribed minority, the high priests of 
freedom, who have been battling for more than fifty years for 
the destruction of American slavery, the great enemy to the 
principle inaugurated on the first of January, 1863, the right 
of self-government, the right of every individual to life, lib- 
erty and the pursuit of happiness. Never had we occasion 
to thank God and take courage more heartily than to-day. 
God has been our leader, and we have passed through the 
Red Sea, and now rejoice that Canaan is in view. 

We have met to celebrate the anniversary of the most 



5 

beneficent and memorable event in the history of the world — 
ancient or modern — the emancipation of 4,000,000 bondsmen 
b}^ Abraham Lincoln, the first President of the FREE United 
States of America; the consummation of a great act of jus- 
tice and humanity, the wisdom of which has compelled the 
civilized world to acknowledge its unparalleled magnitude. 

One year after the immortal Lincoln had promulgated the 
Proclamation of Freedom, a most remarkable spectacle was 
seen in the City of Washington. The President's recep- 
tion on New Year's Day had heretofore been exclusively 
allotted to meet white citizens in the executive mansion. The. 
appearance of colored persons was an event that surprised 
and provoked the multitude of negro-haters, who crowd the 
doors on such an occasion. The people waited until the num- 
ber of white visitors diminished, then they strengthened their 
resolution and made bold to enter the hall. Some of them 
were richly dressed, while others wore the garb of poverty, 
but alike intent on seeing the man who had set our people 
free. They pressed forward until they beheld the stately 
form of the President. An eye-witness says: "For nearly 
two hours Mr. Lincoln had been shaking the hands of the 
' sovereigns,' and had become excessively weary, and his grasp 
became languid ; but here his nerves rallied at the unwonted 
sight, and he welcomed this motley crowd with a heartiness 
that made them wild with exceeding joy. They laughed and 
wept, and wept and laughed, exclaiming through their blind- 
ing tears, ' G-od bless you ! ' ' God bless you, Abraham Lin- 
coln ! ' ' God bress Massa Linkum ! ' " 

We have not forgotten the sensation caused by the first 
sound from Sumter, when enthusiasm blazed high and bright ; 
when bells rang out and flags waved, and the people rose as 
one man to cheer on the troops. 

It was then the colored people assembled in public meet- 
ings in various parts of the country, and volunteered their 
services to aid our government in suppressing the rebellion. 
What reply did we receive ? We were insultingly and dis- 
dainfully told that this is the white man's country and the 
white man's war ; that our aid was not needed, and would not 
be accepted. We remember the battle of Bull Run, when 
the rout of our forces became general and complete, and a 



retreat of the fragment of our army was determined upon, 
and the stragglers did push on from the battle-field to Wash- 
ington without halting. Campaign after campaign followed 
with equal disastrous results, and our government began to 
look with distrust, fearful that the military science of our ene- 
mies would prove an impregnable barrier to their repeated 
attacks. The people had been so long governed by those 
who always ignored the rights of our race that nothing but 
rivers of blood, acres of maimed, ghastly, dying, and dead 
men, could convince our rulers that the vitalizing element 
must be introduced into the army before victory could be 
achieved. It was not decided that colored men could become 
an integral portion of the army until 1863. The initiative 
of raising colored regiments in the free States was taken by 
Governor Andrew of Massachusetts, and subsequently other 
free States sanctioned their enlistment. The enlistment of 
colored refugees in the rebel States was prosecuted without 
much difficulty, and soon we had near 200,000 men in the 
field. Their heroism and loyalty stands unrivalled. They 
have erected an unperishable monument that should illumin- 
ate the pages of history, and be read by the coming millions 
of our race, and be valued as the greatest legacy bequeathed 
to them through the sublime career of our noble braves. We 
have the gratification to know that President Lincoln ac- 
knowledged the value of our troops. He believed that the 
country could not be saved without their aid. 

The aboUtion of slavery in the District of Columbia, the 
recognition of Hayti and Liberia, the repeal of the fugitive 
slave law, and the employment of colored men in the army> 
gave serious ofiense to tlie pro-slavery party of the country. 
When the President met some prominent western men in 
1864, he asked them if the black men who then assisted the 
Union prisoners to .escape were to be converted into our en- 
emies, in the vain hope to gain the good will of their masters ; 
if so, said he, we shall have to fight two nations instead of 
one. Mr. Lincoln was unwilling to conciliate the South by 
such means, and he considered their success inevitable, pro- 
vided the labor of four millions of black men were placed 
into their side of the scale. He said, if they should abandon 
all the forts, then garrisoned by black men, and take two 



hundred thousand men from their side, and put them in the 
battle field or corn field against them, they would have been 
compelled to abandon the war in three weeks. There were 
men base enough to propose to the President the policy to 
return to slavery the black warriors of Port Hudson and 
Olustee, and then win the respect of the masters they fought. 
Should I do so, said Mr. Lincoln, I should deserve to be 
damned in time and eternity. Come what will, he added, I 
will keep my faith with friend and foe ; but no human power 
can subdue this rebellion without the use of the emancipation 
policy, and every other policy calculated to weaken the mor- 
al and physical forces of the rebellion, and he rejoiced that 
freedom had given him 200,000 men raised on southern soil. 

When the appeal to the noble men of our race was made 
to defend the nation's cause, its honor, and our firesides, we 
felt that very great sacrifices were required of them. The 
rebels had threatened immediate death to our men if taken 
prisoners. It needed strong minds and willing hearts to face 
that terrible issue. The wife was asked to give her hus- 
band, the mother her darling boy, the tearful youth his father, 
and all their loved ones. As they went forth we bid them 
God speed, and hasten the day when the country would be at 
rest. 

Our hearts were filled with sorrow and sympathy for our 
brave men who fell on the battle-field. We did watch their 
course with intense and peculiar interest, for we believed 
their character abounded in those noble and excellent quali- 
ties of which the country and the times stood so much in 
need : and when they were ordered to some very dangerous 
post, we feared that they would be cut off in the morning of 
their useful life. What heroic devotion, and how sublime the 
spectacle of these patriotic men offering their lives with such 
cheerful bravery, to achieve the freedom of our cruelly op- 
pressed race. 

When distinguished officers from the higher walks of life 
consented to enter upon the perilous duties and lead our 
forces, the military horizon seemed dark and lowery. These 
brave men, who were dearly beloved by their relatives and 
friends, and endeared for their gentle, refined, and conscien- 
tious natures, were w^illing to suffer, die, and be buried with 



God's despised poor. It was then the timid, time-serving 
politicians of the North, and the secession sympathizers and 
negro-haters of the West,' put forth their indignant protest 
against the policy to arm black men. Their reasoning was 
contradictory and absurd. They first declared that they 
would never countenance such an atrocity as to look on quiet- 
ly and allow black Union men to shoot down white rebels. 
They said their feigned courage would ooze out before the 
glistening bayonets of the defiant enemy, and their very ap- 
pearance on the battle-field would demoralize the whole army, 
as white men would never consent to fight side by side Avith 
those untutored sons of toil and oppression. They finally de- 
cided that the negro would not fight, that the project would 
prove a complete failure, and end in ruin and disgrace. They 
however did soon prove our persecutors to be false prophets 
and blind guides. Never in the history of the world can 
there be found a record of nobler achievements than was dis- 
played by our Spartan heroes ; and the historian will fail to 
find in the catalogue of our valorous defenders, a more pure 
and heroic soul than Col. Shaw of the 54th Massachusetts 
Regiment. There was a peculiar tie that bound him to life, 
for he had been married but a few weeks before he accepted 
the position assigned him. He arose above the nefarious cus- 
tom of the times when he declared that it was his purpose to 
treat all gentlemen the same, whatever their complexion 
might be. 

It may be remembered, on that memorable night Col. 
Shaw had command of the first storming column at the assault 
on Fort Wagner, and led the regiment in person, while the 
enemy opened upon them with shot, shell, and canister, which 
woimded many of their best ofiicers and men ; they faltered 
not, but cheered and shouted as they advanced — Col. Shaw 
springing to the front and waving his sword, shouted " For- 
ward, my brave boys ! " — and they were soon engaged in a 
hand in hand conflict with the enemy. He was one of the 
first to scale the walls. He stood erect to urge forward his 
men, and while shouting for them to press on, he was shot 
dead, and fell in front of the fort with twenty of his men 
lying dead around him. 

" His gallaut soul had passed away, his brave, j-oiing life was spent." 



9 

A colored citizen of Boston lias generously contributed 
five hundred dollars to assist in the erection of an equestrian 
statue to his memory. Posterity will revere his name. 

The color-bearer deserves a passing notice. Sergeant 
John Wall, of Company G, carried the flag in the First Bat- 
talion, and when near the fort, fell into a ditch. The guard 
could not stop for him, but Sergeant William H. Carney, of 
Campany C, caught the colors, cariied them forward, and was 
the first man to plant the stars and stripes upon Fort Wag- 
ner. He saw the men falling back ; himself severely wound- 
ed in the breast ; he brought the colors off, creeping on his 
knees, pressing his wounds with one hand, and with the other 
holding up the emblem of freedom. The moment he was 
seen crawling into the hospital with the flags still in his pos- 
session, his wounded companions, both black and white, rose 
from the straw upon which they were lying, and cheering 
him until exhausted, they could shout no longer. In response 
to this reception, the brave and wounded standard-bearer 
said : " I but did my duty ; the dear old flag never touched 
the ground." That veteran and battle-scarred hero now fills 
an important office in the municipality of New Bedford, Mas- 
sachusetts. 

The 54th Massachusetts Regiment deserve much praise 
for their manliness in refusing the pittance of seven dollars a 
month that was ofi"ered to them by the government, and also 
the balance of their dues appropriated by the State of Massa- 
chusetts. 

They did not heed the advice of friends or the threat of 
enemies, notwithstanding many of them had families to sup- 
port, while their money had been Avithheld for more than six 
months. They voted not to accept a dollar until the justice 
of their claim was. acknowledged by the Secretary of War, 
and sanctioned by Congress. The end of justice was at- 
tained, and they, together with all the colored volunteers, 
received the same compensation that was given to the white 
soldiers. 

In the thunder storm and sharp crash of terrible battle, 
mid blood, carnage and death, a vision of childhood, of the 
sweet heaven-time of life, came over our colored heroes. 
They hoped it was death, coming as no king of terrors, but as 



10 

a beautiful flower-crowned child, bidding them welcome to 
the great halls of the laurel-wreathed dead — those who died 
for their country. 

We gave twenty thousand precious lives of our race to 
save the life of the nation. We now demand of the govern- 
ment a fulfillment of its pledge. We will labor incessantly 
until we obtain all the rights and privileges that are enjoyed 
by the Caucassian race. We are prepared to solve the great 
problem that will establish our social rights. Equality be- 
fore the law will unshaft the calumnious darts of our enemies. 
The ballot is soon to become our pedestal. The four corner- 
stones of our new edifice, upon which civil society is to be 
built, are the church, the school-house, the press, and the bal- 
lot. Then our career of usefulness will emit a vivid light. 
We will raise our standard high, and labor to become the 
peers of the dominant race. 

If we read ancient history aright, there has been a period 
in the history of our race when they equalled, if not excelled, 
the other existing nations of the globe. How presumptions 
in any other to declare our race intellectually inferior to any 
other portion of mankind. We need only look back a few 
hundred years to see in what a humble condition the Saxon 
race was placed. They have not much to boast of, for the 
time was when the proud Norman claimed him as a slave, 
and the name of Saxon dog, and his brass collar, are still to 
be found on the pages of English history. 

Tell us not that we are intellectually inferior, when we 
belong to a race to whose ancestors a Solon, a Plato, a Pyth- 
agoras, were sent for instruction. Tell us not that we cannot 
inculcate knowledge because we Avear the hue and hair of 
St. Augustine, of Syphaeum, of Oyren, of Origen, of Ter- 
tulleanus, those early fathers of the Christian Church, who 
were reverenced as the most venerable of men, and whose 
writings are laboriousl}" pondered by our learned divines. 
Tell us not that our intellectual capacity is so limited that we 
are not qualified to cast an intelligent ballot, when Greece 
and Rome drew directly, and all modern Europeans and their 
descendants, indirectly, the sum total of their knowledge and 
literature from our race. 



11 

The employment of those assumed physiological and psy- 
chological expounders will soon expire by limitation, and the 
theoretical dogma of negro inferiority will become so unpop- 
ular that its advocates will be compelled to hold their peace, 
or mantle their faces in shame and confusion, under the ge- 
nial rays of an enlightened public opinion. Free speech is 
the germ of our history, and the corner-stone of our power. 

An event, showing the spirit of the times, deserves special 
notice. J. Milton Turner, of St. Louis, Missouri, a colored 
orator and fearless champion, has been canvassing the South- 
ern States for " Equality before the law." He passed through 
several of these States like a blazing meteor. Upon his ar- 
rival at Little Eock, Arkansas, Governor Murphy ordered the 
firing of eleven guns, and went out to meet him in person. 
By invitation of the Governor, Mr. Turner addressed an au- 
dience of near two thousand in the rotunda of the Court 
House. His subject was " Equality before the law." He 
spoke for two hours and a half, amid the vociferous cheering 
of his audience. The report says, one would have thought, 
to see that ebony negro speaker on the stand with Governor 
Murphy and other dignitaries of the State, with a large ma- 
jority of rebels in his audience, fearlessly demanding of Ar- 
kansas rebels the equality of all men before the law, that 
Little Rock had changed its geographical locality, and was 
now situated some where in Massachusetts. 

It is now seventy years since the renowned navigator and 
eminent merchant, Capt. Paul Caffee, of Westport, Massa- 
chusetts, felt aggrieved by being shorn of his right to vote. 
He was one of the wealthiest men in that town, and he was 
highly respected by the Society of Friends, of which he was 
a prominent minister. Capt. Cuffee oifered his vote at a 
town meeting, and it was rejected. Believing that taxation 
should depend on representation, he refused to pay his tax. 
The town commenced a suit against him, and lost the case ; 
au appeal was made to the Supreme Court of the State, and 
the Court decided in Capt. Cuffee's favor, and placed the 
great seal of approval upon the legal right of colored men to 
enjoy equal political privileges. Similar cases are now pend- 
ing in New Jersey, and we feel sanguine that the Supreme 
Court of the United States will interpret the law, based upon 



12 

the civil rights bill, so as to secure to colored men equal po- 
litical rights in every State and Territory in the Union. 

Twenty-five years ago your speaker was one of the regu- 
larly nominated candidates of the Liberty Party from Bristol 
County, Massachusetts, for a seat in the Senate of that State. 
Our ticket was supported by a full vote, but we failed to elect. 
The friends of freedom and equal rights did not despair. 
They frequently placed the names of colored men on their 
ticket, with like results ; and now, after a long and Avell-fought 
battle with the ballot, we have gained a glorious victory. We 
rejoice with our friends in the east who have unfurled their 
banner, which may be seen floating high in the air, on which 
is inscribed in letters of light — " Equal and exact justice to 
all men." 

They have set an example that will ere long be followed 
by the progressive party until every city and town will send 
forth their most intelligent and worthy men as legislators, re- 
gardless of creed or color. 

Our enemies are wrathy, and they use epithets unsparing- 
ly on the devoted heads of our friends in Boston (the Athens 
of America) because the most aristocratic ward — containing 
the greatest amount of wealth and cultivated intellect — have 
elected a colored man to represent their interest in the Legis- 
lature ; and because Charlestown has sent Edward G. Walker, 
a colored lawyer, to the same place. 

Lieutenant Charles H. Mitchell, he who " led the men to 
battle in a wild and desperate fight," is an industrious and in- 
telligent printer, and a veteran soldier of the late war, who 
has won his epaulets by gallant service, and lost a leg in an 
engagement with the rebels before Richmond. He doubt- 
less is a man of ability. No colored man could occupy a place 
of trust and emolument unless he possessed superior qualifica- 
tions. We do assure our enemies that this act of wisdom and 
justice is only a drop before a copious shower. They must 
coDquer their prejudices and become resigned to the action 
of the great progressive party, whose purpose it is to elevate 
the whole human race. Our ambition is not special, but geo- 
graphical. We intend to struggle with all the power that 
mind and matter can produce, to fit ourselves for the higher 
duties of life. We are not content to remain supinely be- 



13 

cause a colored man has been admitted to practice in the Su- 
preme Court of the United States, and colored jurymen to sit 
in courts of justice in the North. We expect to see the day 
when a colored man will occupy a seat as Associate Judge in 
the Superior Court, and an equally worthy white man as Chief 
Justice in the same tribunal. 

The advanced step will be taken whenever a majority of 
voters become convinced that their interests will be best pro- 
moted by electing legislators selected from our people. There 
are persons present who will live to see colored men occu- 
pying seats as Representatives in Congress, and also fillign 
other places of honor in the gift of the people. It is the pur- 
pose of God to elevate all mankind. The cause of liberty 
will go forward until our race are brought to enjoy equal 
rights in all the land. 

The colored people of the South highly prize divine wor- 
ship, and they are not backward in their ecclesiastical rela- 
tions. They will soon support their own schools. Their 
ability to acquire knowledge is conceded, and their faculty 
of discerning and distinguishing ideas is not surpassed by the 
whites. They will ere long be admitted to all the privileges 
of citizens, and they will need the ability to defend them- 
selves. Every man's house is his castle, and every man should 
have a musket, because every man will be a soldier and a 
voter in this Republic. 

There is no tenable theory of impartial suffrage which 
does not recognize the arming of every man in defense of the 
State. One of the most important amendments now neces- 
sary to our system is the universal omission of the word 
" white " in the clause regulating the militia. The colored 
man has shown, in the war, that he has the courage and the 
intelligence to fight ; and in future we shall not hear of so 
many cowardly murders of freedmen by their old masters' 
daughters, when it is known that in every cabin there is a 
fowling-piece or a rifle, to keep hawks, or bears, or other 
beasts of prey from the door. 

During the existence of legalized slavery, the opinion was 
stereotyped that the bondman, if liberated, would not work, as 
he possessed a constitutional love for ease, and an insuperable 
aversion to toil. The same objections were urged against the 



14 

Emancipation Proclamation by the rebel Commissioners at the 
famous interview on board the River Queen at Hampton 
Roads. They said that slaves, having always been accus- 
tomed to an overseer, and to work upon compulsion, if they 
should be suddenly freed, the act would precipitate not only 
themselves, but the entire Southern society into irreme.diable 
ruin ; as no work would be done, nothing would be cultivated, 
and both blacks and whites would starve. Mr. Lincoln re- 
plied : " He admitted that they ought to know a great deal 
better about the matter than he did, for they had always 
lived under the slave system." The quaint and characteristic 
episode about the Illinois drover and his swine, was both 
amusing and unanswerable. The rebels changed the conver- 
sation ; doubtless they were convinced that the President 
possessed firmness in the " right, as God gave him to see the 
right," even if they failed to endorse the righteous conclu- 
sions of that great and good man. 

We have an abundance of overwhelming testimony that 
utterly demolishes the sophism of our enemies. Colored men 
are now engaged from the Potomac to the Rio Grande in ag- 
ricultural interests, and in rebuilding many thousand houses. 
Without their mechanical skill and industry the waste places 
would not soon be filled as they now are with beautiful and 
substantial edifices, such as are being erected by our skillful 
artizans. 

A fact in support of our statement is given by a gentle- 
man in New Haven, Connecticut, who recently visited Rich- 
mond, Virginia. He says : " My ramble was upon the capi- 
tal square. Here I met a few loungers of various grades ; 
they were all white — native, Irish, and German. The white 
laborers complained of no work. 'What! no work, when 
half of Richmond is being rebuilt ? ' ' Yes, no work ; for a 
white man has no chance here ; they will hire a dozen old 
slaves to one white man. Yes, sir ; there is no chance for a 
poor white man here.' " 

Mr. Noyes had noticed, while vicAving the new stores and 
warehouses going up in the midst of acres of ruins, that the 
laborers were nearly all black, and no part of the building 
was erected without their aid — stone-cutters, layers of stone 
and brick, carpenters, workers upon iron fronts, caps and cor- 



15 

nices, tinners, layers of slate, &c., &c., and that acres of 
buildings of the latest New York stj^les are now being erected 
over the burnt district, and a large majority of the laborers 
and artisans are black. 

The acquisition of knowledge should be our great aim. 
Let us strive to equal and excel our brethren in the South. 
We need more mechanics and tradesmen among our people. 
Parents should not neglect to do their duty to their children. 
They must be willing to make many sacrifices to complete 
this design. We should not be content for our sons and 
daughters to walk in our footsteps, and engage in precarious 
employment, such as we have been compelled to pursue. 
We should give our children a liberal education, then a trade 
suited to their physical and mental capacity. These are two 
powerful incentives to action, and when acquired, they will 
lay a foundation for future usefulness. They will then pos- 
sess a lever that will assist them to batter down the strong 
walls of pride and prejudice, that have stood so many years 
between us and our advancement. Their mechanical skill 
and intellectual quahties will possess intrinsic value, and open 
the highway to respectabihty, influence, and wealth. Then 
they will shed upon our community and people a scientific 
grandeur that is imperishable by time, and it will drown in 
oblivion's cup our moral impotency. 

" Watchman, what of the night ? " There is a significance 
in the recent verdict rendered by the people at the polls. 
With an aggregate majority of three hundred and seventy- 
five thousand votes, they have declared the great fact, that in 
future our government will be united in its policy, great in its 
strength, and no longer intimidated or impeded by the selfish 
arrogance of a petty planterdom. We have come to an era of 
great ideas and great creeds, such as rarely overtake nations 
in history. We have elected a radical Congress, that will 
crush the tyrannical rule of the conquered but unyielding ar- 
istocracy of the South, and raise to the topmost pinnacle of 
manhood every loyal subject that will seek protection under 
the defensive. armor of our giant Republic. The great Union 
Party of Freedom remind one of Samson's wife. Havino- dis- 
covered the secret of President Johnson's strength, they have 
shorn him of his locks. The political knife and the tourni- 



16 

quet have maimed him for life. His apostacy, petty expedi- 
ency, and small politics, will no longer be regarded as posses- 
sing any influence aside from the one-man power which his 
accidency has been clothed with. The evils against us that 
he has propagated, by encouraging cruelty, hatred, ignorance, 
and depravity among unconverted rebels, will measurably 
disappear before the superior intelligence, industry, and hu- 
manity of our Congressional doctors, who can not be excelled 
in the knowledge of their profession. They will cauterize 
before they heal. The great principles of free labor, scien- 
tific reforms and culture, the enlargement of capital, the 
feeding and teaching the poor, will become a deep seated 
duty of the friends of progress, and they will labor to pro- 
mote this great and holy end, which is, in reality, the shield 
of the poor, and the practical side of Christianity. Hence- 
forth the Radical Union Party must rule. Must is a hard 
nut, but southern teeth must crack it, whether they wish to 
or not. They may shuffle and quibble, but to the decree of 
fate they must yield. Delay will render it more certain. 
The industrious freeman who now owns a little farm, and has 
realized one or two thousand dollars the past year, will soon 
need a plantation. The rural nobility will give place to higher 
nobility. Social culture, based on mud-sills, must make way 
for mud-sills themselves ; for lo ! the sills which they buried 
are not dead timber, neither do they sleep or rot ; they were 
fresh saplings, and with the reviving breath of spring, and 
at the gleam of the sun of freedom, they will shoot up into 
brave, strong life. 

We may revive our minds to the pleasant contemplation 
of the Radical Party ruling over a perfectly free continent, 
and we see in the future such a picture of national greatness 
as the world never before realized. The South will be willing 
and eager to engage the labor of our people, for there will 
be no cause in future for them to shun the southern clime. 
The native Americans, as ever directing the enterprise, one 
grand government, spreading from ocean to ocean, the whole 
every year growing more and more united through the con- 
stant increase of industrial interests and mutual needs. This, 
indeed, is a bright future to look forward to — and it is no idle 
dream. It will be something to be a colored American citi- 



17 

zen, when we can count seven million united freemen, and 
one liundred million in substantial wealth. Then this new 
generation of southerners will consider us something else than 
poverty-stricken, ignorant, and degraded serfs ; they will 
learn that social merit is not conferred by being born white, 
on this or that piece of " sacred " dirt, but by a full develop- 
ment and exercise of the talents with which God has gifted 
us. 

We are not unmindful of the debt of gratitude we owe 
the world long tried and true hearted friends of the oppressed. 
Our Wilberforce of America stands foremost in rank. This 
great philanthropist has given the labor of a long and event- 
ful life in a warfare against the sum of all villianies ; rising- 
above any hope of gain or profit commensurate with the sac- 
rifices he made in combatting such a stupendous wrong. 
We admire his glorious motto : " Our countr}^ is the world, 
and our countrymen are all mankind." The southern Legis- 
latures offered rewards for his head amounting to fifty thou- 
sand dollars. The slave holders of Baltimore incarcerated 
him in a dungeon. Gentlemen of property and standing in 
Boston, upon collecting an infuriated mob, they broke up a 
female anti-slavery meeting, then they seized him, placed a 
halter around his neck, and dragged him through the streets ; 
they threatened him with instant death, and his life was onl}^ 
saved by being cast into prison. For forty years he has beea 
an able, uncompromising champion of the oppressed. We- 
venerate the name of our liberator, Wm. Lloyd Garrison. 
He was faithfully and ably supported by a gentleman who 
has no superior in learning. He is a living encyclopedia of 
facts relating to the issues that have agitated the jjublic mind 
during our long struggle. He has refused political prefer- 
ment, such as his splended talents might command. He has 
devoted his time and contributed generously to aid our cause. 
He is a true beacon light, warning the people to avert danger 
ahead. With flashing eyes, and a voice like notes of a golden 
trumpet, he peals forth mastery arguments in behalf of our 
race. Long live Wendell Phillips, Esq. 

In proximity we find the immaculate, the most profound 

and conscientious statesman of our time. He was stricken 

down in the Senate chamber by a cowardlv assassin for advo- 
2 



18 

eating the cause of the slave. He has ever been as inflexible 
as the sturdy oak, and as true to the cause of humanity as the 
needle to the pole. We refer to nature's nobleman, Hon. 
Charles Sumner. 

Another intrepid and incorruptible guardian of our rights 
may be seen leading the rank and file that belong to our 
forces, and are now engaged in defending the citadel of free- 
dom. They may be surrounded with hostile troops, but the 
brave old commander will never capitulate. Althougli bend- 
ing under the weight of three score and ten years, he has 
strength sufficient to beard traitors in their dens and shave 
A. Johnson in the hall. 

" Where could they find another form so fit 
To poise with solid sense a sprightly wit " 

as the Hon. Thaddeus Stevens, of Pennsylvania. 

We will introduce you to an officer that has no superior 
in rank. He belongs to the vanguard who led the anti-slavery 
army, and who unfurled to the breeze a flag on which was 
inscribed in letters of light — " Immediate and unconditional 
emancipation — no protection to tyrants." From the pre-em- 
inent position that this gentleman occupies, we hope he will 
Chase a thousand traiters from their hiding-place, and put 
ten thousand secession pettifoggers to flight, should they de- 
mand admission to the tribunal over which he presides, with- 
out taking the test oath of allegiance . 

During the war there w^as one officer that had the cour- 
age to hang a rebel who dared to insult our flag. He also 
refused to return the slaves that had escaped from their mas- 
ters. He very justly and wisely decided that this kind of 
property, if used for carrying on the war, should become con- 
traband. By this decision he established a system that saved 
many thousand bondmen from torture and death. This offi- 
cer charged upon and captured a rebel breastwork, before 
Petersburg, that was led by a colored division, who suffered 
a loss of five hundred and forty-six dead and wounded sol- 
diers. As they lay before him, he swore an oath to himself 
that his right hand might forget its cunning,. and his tongue 
might cleave to the roof of his mouth, if ever he refrained 
claiming justice for these men who had laid down their lives 
for their country — which to them had been a country of sla- 



19 

very — in the immortal hope that they might thereb}^ bring 
freedom to their race. That commanding Major-General was 
the gallant Benjamin F. Butler. 

Our portraiture would appear unfinished if we omit to 
notice the worthy martyrs who laid down their lives in attes- 
tation of their love for God's poor — one of which was " wil- 
ling to have all the wealth that was acquired by the bonds- 
man's unrequieted toil of two hundred and fifty years, sunk 
in the depths of the ocean, and every drop of blood that was 
drawn with the lash to be paid with another by the sword ; 
with malice towards none, and charity to all," he built for 
himself the first place in the affections of our race in this 
country. His memory and deeds are engraven on our hearts, 
and coming generations will chant with joy and gladness the 
song of thanksgiving and praise. Peace be to the ashes of 
the immortal Abraham Lincoln. 

"We all remember the great fright that twenty-one men 
caused throuhout our country. The whole army of regulars 
and volunteers were on the alert. The forces Avere mar- 
shaled and sent to the scene of action. The invincible army 
that was entrenched in the fortress at Harper's Ferry, (which 
they held for twenty-four hours,) were overpowered and com- 
pelled by superior numbers to surrender at discretion. The 
conduct of those noble and heroic men, under the most se- 
vere trial, fully developed their pure devotion to the cause of 
human liberty and equal rights. They struck a blow that 
has since proved to be the death wound to the hydra-headed 
monster. The leader of the expedition was a bold man in 
doing right. He had a higher communion with his God than 
is the lot of men in this age and country. The tortures and 
cruelties that tyrants used, had no terrors for him. The 
shattered arm and cruel sabre-cut on his forehead reminded 
him that death would soon raise the veil of the glorious fu- 
ture. He believed that God's wrath would soon pervade the 
South, and undo every burden, break every yoke, and let 
the oppressed go free. The prophecy has been fulfilled to 
the letter. The late terrible war did verifj^ the prediction 
in words of fire, blood, and carnage. 

The crowning act of this Christian Patriot was performed 
when he stepped forth with a firm step and a steady eye, 



20 

evincing' no signs of quaking, and he only stopped on the 
way to the scaffold a moment to kiss a negro child. It was 
the hero of Osawattamie, Captain John Brown. 

A host of faithful, self-sacrificing friends have assisted us 
in our struggle for life and liberty. They have rendered a 
just account of their stewardship. Their acts are indelibly 
impressed on our hearts, and the good they have done for our 
race has been penned by the Recording Angel in that book 
whose leaves are sealed till the great day of judgment. 

Watchman, behold the morning star ! We have observed 
the firmament as it glows with living sapphires, and have 
gazed as>gilent worshippers in the great Temple of Creation, 
while the night of our expectation was transparent and the 
moon was absent. We now rejoce and are made glad, be- 
cause we have a glimpse into the interior of the Temple of 
Freedom, and we can form some slight idea of its grandeur 
and its glory. It is our promised hope. The Sun of Justice 
will soon appear, and its refulgent rays will warm our hearts, 
invi£:orate our minds, and enable us to enjoy the heaven-born 
rights that were so long withheld from us. 

We have the key and we will unlock the doors of Old 
Harvard. Our children who may be prepared to enter that 
ancient institution of learning, and other colleges and seminar- 
ies, invite them to come and commune with its classic authors. 
They may drinlc freely from the fountain of knowledge, from 
whence their trickles softly draw a gentle crystal stream. We 
have no fear of the future. We are soon to occupy promi- 
nent places in the world of letters. We will be able to fur- 
nish men of erudition, such are qualified to present the flow- 
ers of rhetoric, the embellishment of fancy, 'and the refine- 
ment of literature. Already the "Atlantic Monthly," which 
is acknowledged to be the most popular magazine in the 
United States, and who employ the deepest thinkers and 
ablest writers, find it profitable to engage colored persons ;js 
contributors to adorn its pages. 

Colored men are now invited to lecture before the popu- 
lar lyceum in the east. They draw full houses ; winning com- 
pliments from the critics, and pleasing the most fastidious and 
scholarly listener ; for they possess the voice, the manner, the 
command of speech, thought, and the imagination ; and they 



21 

draw the attention of the auditors, as particles of steel are 
attracted by the magnet. 

The world moves, and it moves fast, too. We send greet- 
ing: our sincere and heartfelt thanks to those liberty-loving 
members of Congress who have, by their votes, caused to be 
enacted a law that does remove the prescriptive barrier be- 
tween colored citizens and the ballot. They have expunged 
from the statute a relict of barbarism, and the District of 
Columbia stands disintliralled, redeemed, and regenerated- 
The march of enfranchisement will go on, until every State 
and Territory have indorsed this principle of justice; thereby 
granting to colored men equal political privileges- Then tax- 
ation will go hand in hand with representation, and a united 
people will rejoice, that they live in " the land of the free and 
the home of the brave," whose fundamental laws are une- 
qualled by any other government in the civilized world. All 
hail, the patriotic statesmen of the thirty-ninth Congress! 

Venerable sires, aged matrons, young men, and blooming 
maidens, we hope that you have caught the inspiration ; " an 
hour lost is an opportunity for disater,'' said the great Napo- 
leon. We entreat of you to renew your vows, and dedicate 
your lives to the well-begun work, that must be finished- 
We rely on the justice of our cause. In legal parlance, we 
have summed up our case, and submit it to the candid and 
indiscriminate .consideration of the American people. They 
will assuredly render a verdict that will sustain us in our 
conclusion. We are Americans in every sense of the word — 
Americans by birth, genius, habits, and language. We are 
dependent upon American climate, American element, Amer- 
ican government, and American manners, to sustain our 
American bodies and minds. We expect to enjoy all the 
rights and privileges of Americans — governmental, ecclesi- 
astical, civil, social, or elemental. The claims we set up are 
claims of Americans, founded on an original agreement of 
the contracting parties, and there is nothing to show that 
color is a consideration of the agreement- 

Our cause is sacred and divine, 
With labor and genius combine, 
AVe plant in hnman heart the seeds 
That shall grov; to noble deeds ; 
Our manhood ever more shall be, 
For God has set our nation free. 



To P. A. BELL, Esq., 

A PIONEER IN THE INTELLECTUAL ELEVATION OF HIS RACE, 

THESE LINES ARE RESPECTFULLY INSCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR. 



A POEM 



Written for the Celebration of the Fourth A.nniversary of President 
Lincoln' s Etnancipation Proclamation. 

BY J. M. WHITFIELD. 



More than two centuries have passed 

Since, holding on their stormy way, 
Before the furious wintry blast. 

Upon a dark December day, 
Two sails, with different intent, 

Approached the Western Continent, 
One vessel bore as rich a freight 

As ever yet has crossed the wave ; 
The living germs to form a State 

That knows no master, owns no slave. 
She bore the pilgrims to that strand 

Which since is rendered classic soil, 
Where all the honors of the land 

May reach the hardy sons of toil. 
The other bore the baleful seeds 

Of future fratricidal strife. 
The germ of dark and bloody deeds, 

Which prey upon a nation's life. 
The trafficker in human souls 

Had gathered up and chained his prey, 
And stood prepared to call the rolls, 

When, anchored in Virginia's Bay — 

His captives landed on her soil, 



24 



Doomed without recompense to toil, 

Should spread abroad such deadly blio^ht, 

That the deep gloom of mental night 

Spreading its darkness o'er the land, 

And paraliziug every hand 

Raised in defence of Liberty, 

Should throw the chains of slavery 

O'er thought and limb, and mind and soul. 

And bend them all to its control. 

New England's cold and sterile land 

Gave shelter to the pilgrim band ; 

Virginia's rich and fertile soil 

Received the dusky sons of toil. 
The one bore men whose lives were passed 

In fierce contests for liberty — 
Men who had struggled to the last 

'Gainst every form of tyranny. 
Vanquished in many a bloody fight. 

Yet still in spirit unsubdued ; 
Though crushed by overwhelming might. 

With love of freedom still imbued, 
They bore unto their Western home, 

The same ideas which drove them forth, 
As houseless fugitives to roam 

In endless exile o'er the earth. 
And, on New England's sterile shore. 

Those few and feeble germs took root, 
To after generations bore 

Abundance of the glorious fruit — • 

Freedom of thought, and of the pen, 

Free schools, free speech, free soil, free men. 

Thus in that world beyond the seas, 

Found by the daring Genoese, 

More than two centuries ago 

A sower wandered forth to sow. 
He planted deep the grains of wheat, 

That generations yet unborn. 
When e'er they came to reap and eat. 

Might bless the hand that gave the corn ; 

And find it yield that priceless bread 

With which the starving soul is fed ; 

The food which fills the hungry mind, 

Gives mental growth to human kind. 

And nerves the sinews of the free 

To strike for Truth and Lilierty. 



25 



Yet, planted at the self-same time 

Was other seed by different hands, 
To propagate the deadliest crime 

That ever swept o'er guilty lands — 

The crime of human slavery, 

With all its want and misery — 

The harrowing scenes of woe and pain. 

Which follow in its ghastly train. 
The same old feud that cursed the earth 

Through all the ages of the past, 
In this new world obtained new birth, 

And built again its Avails of caste, 
More high and deep, more broad and strong. 

On ancient prejudice and wrong. 
The same old strife of every age, 

Inherited by son from sire, 
Which darkens each historic page, 

And sends a discord through the lyre 
every bard, who frames his song 

In praise of Freedom, Truth, and Right, 
Rebukes the gathered hosts of wrong. 

And spreads the rays of Freedom's light — 

That strife, long fought in Eastern lands. 

Was transferred to the Western strand. 

The same old seeds of endless strife, 

Deep in the Nation's inmost life 

Were sown, to yield in after years 

A plenteous crop of blood and tears. 
•'Twas here the dragon's teeth were sown, 

And crops of armed men sprang up ; 
Here the Republic, mighty grown, 

Drank deep rebellion's bitter cup ; 
Here, where her founders sowed the wind, 

They reaped the whirlwind's furious blast — 
Proudly refusing to rescind 

The deadly errors of the past, 
They drew the sword, by deed and word 

To rivet slavery's bloody chain. 
And, slaughtered by th' avenging sword. 

Their bones strew many a battle plain. 

The strife of aristocracy 

In conflict with democracy. 

Was here renewed, with greater zeal, 

And danger to the common weal. 
One century and a half had Hown 

When Freedom gained the first great fight ; 



26 



Defied the power of the throne, 

And bravely proved the people's might, 
When banded in a righteous cause, 
To overthrow oppressive laws. 
'Twas then, when struggling at its birth, 

To take its proper place beside 
The other Nations of the earth, 

The rule of justice was applied ; 

And all mankind declared to be 

Inheritors of Liberty ; 

With right to make their freedom known, 

By choosing rulers of their own. 
But when it came t' enforce the right, 

Gained on the well-contested field, 
Slavery's dark intrigues won the fight. 

And made victorious Freedom yield; 

Giving each place of power and trust, 

To those who, groveling in the dust. 

Seek to extend the giant crime 

Of Slavery through all coming time. 

The victory won at fearful cost. 

Over a mighty monarch's host, 

By which oppression's power seem'd foiled 
On the Atlantic's western shore, 

And those who through long years had toiled. 
The burden of the battle bore, 

In order that thiij land might be 

A home and refuge for the free, 

Were doomed to see their labor lost — 

Their victory won at fearful cost, 

Over oppression's mighty power. 

Surrendered in the trying hour ; 

And made to strengthen slavery's hand, 

Ruling with iron rod the land. 

The power the warrior's hand had lost, 
The politician's skill restored ; 

And slavery's votaries could boast 
Intrigue was mightier than the sword. 

But fraud and force in vain combined 

To check the progress of the mind ; 

And every eifort proved in vain 

T' enslave the cultivated brain. 

The same ideas the pilgrim's brought 

When first they crossed the wintry wave. 

Spreading throughout the land were fraught 
With light and freedom to the slave : 



27 



And hence ivhere slavery bore the rule, 
It labored to suppress the school, 
Muzzle the tongue, the press, the pen, 
As means by which the rights of men 
Might be discussed, and Freedom's light 
Break up the gloom of slavery's night. 
Efforts vrhich, in a better cause 

Had brought their authors deathless fame. 
Were made to frame oppressive laws. 

And to arouse, excite, inflame, 
The vilest passions of the throng, 

And stir that bitter prejudice 
Which makes men blind to right and wrong. 

And opens wide that deep abyss 
Where pride of rank, and caste, and race, 

Have left such marks of bitter bate. 
As nought but time can e'er efface, 

To foment discord in the State. 

But vain their efforts to contrctl 

The aspirations of the soul ; 
For still a faithful few were found 

Who would not bend the servile knee. 
But in each conflict stood their ground. 

And boldly struck for Liberty. 
From year to year the contest grew, 

Till slavery, glorying in her strength, 
Again war's bloody falchion drew, 

And sluggish freedom, roused at length. 
Waked from her stupor, seized the shield, 
And called her followers to the field. 
And at that call they thronging came. 
With arms of strength, and hearts on flame; 
Answering the nation's call to arms. 
The northern hive poured forth its swarms ; 
The lumbermen of Maine threw down 

The axe, and seized the bayonet ; 
The Bay State's sons from every tow». 

Left loom and anvil, forge and net ; 
The Granite State sent forth its sons. 

With hearts as steadfast as her rocks ; 
The stern Vermonters took their guns, 

And left to others' care their flocks ; 
Rhode Island and Connecticut 

Helped to fill up New England's roll. 
And showed the pilgrim spirit yet 

Could animate the Yankee soul. 



28 



The Empire State sent forth a host, 

Such as might seal an empire's fate ; 
Even New Jersey held her post, 

And proved herself a Uuion State. 
The Key-Stone of the Union arch 
Sent forth an army true and tried ; 

Ohio joined the Union march, 
And added to the Nation's side 
A force three hundred thousand strong, 
While Michigan took up the song ; 
Wisconsin also, like the lakes, 
When the autumnal gale awakes. 
And rolls its surges on the shore. 
Poured forth its sons to battle's roar. 
The gallant State of Illinois 
Sent forth in swarms its warlike boys. 
On Indiana's teeming plain, 
Thick as the sheaves of ripened grain. 
Were soldiers hurrying to the wars 
To battle for the Stripes and Stars. 

From Iowa fresh numbers came. 
While Minnesota joined the tide, 

And Kansas helped to spread the flame. 
And carry o'er the border side 
The torch the ruffians once applied 
When fiercely, but in vain, they tried 
The people of their rights to spoil. 
And fasten slavery on her soil. 

From East unto remotest West, 
From every portion of the North, 

The true, the bravest, and the best. 
Forsook their homes and sallied forth ; 
And men from every foreign land 
Were also reckoned in that baud. 
The Scandinavians swelled the train. 
The brave Norwegian, Swede, and Dane, 
And struck as though Thor rained his blows 
Upon the heads of haughty foes ; 
Or Odin's self had sought the iield 
To make all opposition yield. 

Italia's sons, who once had cried 
Loud for united Italy, 

And struck by Garibaldi's side 
For union and equality — 



29 



Obtained another chance to fight 

For nationality and right. 
The Germans came, a sturdy throng, 

And to the bleeding country brought 
Friends of the right, foes of the wrong, 

Heroes in action as in thought, 
Sigel, and Schurz, and many others, 

Whose names shall live among the brave, 
Till all men are acknowledged brothers, 

Without a master or a slave. 
Ireland's sons, as usual, came 

To battle strife with shouts of joy. 
With Meagher and Corcoran won such fame 

As well might rival Fontenoy. 
Briton and Frank, for centuries foes, 

Forgot their struggles, veiled their scars. 
To deal on slavery's head their blows, 

Fighting beneath the Stripes and Stars. 
From the Atlantic's stormy coast, 

Unto the broad Pacific's strand, 
Came pouring forth a martial host , 

From every portion of the land. 
They came, as flocking sea birds swarm, 

Whene'er the cloud-king mounts his throne 
And calls the warriors of the storm 

To sweep the earth from zone to zone. 
They came as come the rushing waves 

When o'er the sea the tempest raves. 

They came as storm clouds quickly fly 

When lightnings flash along the sky, 

And on the Southern plains afar 

Soon burst the thunderbolts of war. 

In quick and fierce succession fell 

The furious showers of shot and shell. 
Though East, and West, and North combined, 

And foreigners from every land 
A^^ith all that art and skill could find. 

They could not crush the rebel band. 
They clung unto th' accursed thing. 

That which they knew accursed of God, 
Nor strength, nor skill could victory bring 

With that accursed thing abroad. 
When Abraham, the poor man's friend, 

Assumed the power to break the chain. 



30 

Obey the Lord, and put an end 

To slavery's dark and bloody reign, 
To make the uatiou shield from harm 

Its loyal sons of every hue, 
In its defence receive and arm 
All those vrho to its flag vrere true, 
He found the touchstone of success, 
For then Jehovah deigned to bless, 
And smile upon the nation's arms, ^-j 

And give it rest from war's alarms. 
Thus men of every land and tongue, 

Of every station, every hue, 
Were found the Union hosts among. 

Enlisted with the boys in blue ; 
And all mankind should freely draw 

The prize for which their lives were given ; 
" Equality before the law," 

To every person under heaven. 
As storms and tempests pass away, 

And leave the sun's enlivening light. 
Our war-cloud brought the o[)ening day 

To slavery's long and gloomy night. 
As storms and thunder help to clear 
And purify the atmosphere, 
E'en so the thunders of the war, 
Driving malaria afar, 
Have purged the moral atmosphere. 
And made the dawn of freedom clear. 
From swamps and marshes left undrained 

Malarious vapors will arise, 
From human passions, unrestrained, 

Rise fogs to cloud our moral skies : 
So now, from portions of the land 

Where lately slavery reigned supreme, 
Its conquered chiefs together band. 

Concocting many an artful scheme, 
By which Oppression's tottering throne 

May be restored to pristine power, 
And those who now its rule disown 

Be made submissive to its power. 
The self-styled Moses brings the aid 

Of power and place to help them through, 
To crush the race by him betrayed. 

And every man who, loyal, true, 

And faithful to his country's laws — 

Declines to aid the tyrants cause. 



: 



\ 



31 



Our real Moses, stretched hia rod 
Four years ago across the sea, 
Aud through its blood-dyed waves we trod 

The path that leads to Liberty. 
His was the fiery column's light, 

That through the desert showed the way, 
Out of oppression's gloomy night, 

Toward the light of Freedom's day ; 
And, like his prototype of old, 

Who used his power, as Heaven had told, 
To God and to the people true, 
Died with the promised land in view. 
And we may well deplore his loss, 

For never was a ruler given, 
More free from taint of sinful dross. 

To any Nation under Heaven. 
And ever while the earth remains, 

His name among the first shall stand 
Who freed four million slaves from chains, 

And saved thereby his native laud. 
Though Achans rise within the camp. 

And covet slavery's cursed spoil. 
Invent oppressive laws, to cramp 

The energies of men who toil 
Through hardship, danger, sicliness, health, 
To add unto the Nation's wealth — 
Some Joshua shall yet arise. 

Whose hand shall extirpate the seeds 
Sown by this worst of tyrannies, 
Which ripen into bloody deeds 
Such fiendish murders as of late 

Occur in every rebel State. 
While Freedom falters, once again 
The fogs and mists begin to rise, 
And cast their shadows o'er the plain, 

Vailing the issue from our eyes. 
On which the nation yet must stand, — 
Impartial freedom through the land. 
Yet ouce again our moral air 

Is tainted by that poisonous breath. 
Which Freedom's lungs can never bear. 

Which surely ends in moral death. 
Then let the people in their might 

Arise, and send the fiat forth. 
That every man shall have the right 

To rank according to his worth ; 
That north and south, and west and easi, 
All, from the greatest to the least, 
Who rally to the nation's cause, 



32 

Shall have the shield of equal laws. 
Wipe out the errors of the past, 
Nursed by the barbarous pride of caste, 
And o'er the nation's wide domain, 
Where once was heard the clanking chain, 
And timorous bondmen crouched in fear, 
Before the brutal overseer, 
Proclaim the truth that equal laws 
Can best sustain the righteous cause ; 
And let this nation henceforth be 
la truth the country of the free. 

[During the delivery of the Oration and Poem the speak- 
ers were frequently interrupted by loud bursts of applause.] 



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